As a kid, DeMayo was a textbook example of “best little boy in the world syndrome,” striving to distract his family and friends from his latent homosexuality. He began to embrace that side of his identity as an undergrad at the University of Central Florida, though that was fraught too. DeMayo said he survived “a lot” of sexual abuse while at school—something he was reluctant to talk about. “That’s why people are like, ‘Oh, your life is X-Men.’ I would always run to superheroes to deal with that pain and deal with feeling different,” he said. After college, DeMayo went to film school at Florida State, then got his first gig at Marvel by cold-calling the conglomerate and begging for an internship. He worked his way up, eventually turning his internship into a full-time assistant gig for Khaki Jones, then a vice president of current series at Disney Television Animation. He left Marvel, wrote on the CW series The Originals, and then spent two seasons writing for Netflix’s The Witcher series, starring former Superman Henry …